Patrick Vieria has done quite the job with Crystal Palace, seeing them to the FA Cup semifinal in his first season in charge. But he won’t want to stop here with an FA Cup final appearance on the line if they can get by Chelsea. Due to loan obligations, they’ll be without Conor Gallagher who has been in good form with eight goals and three assists opening the door for Eberechi Eze to play a key role in the match.
Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Sunday, Apr. 17 | Time: 11:30 a.m. ET
- Location: Wembley Stadium — London, England
- Live stream: ESPN+
- Odds: Chelsea -165; Draw +295; Crystal Palace +470 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Storylines
Chelsea: After playing 120 minutes against Real Madrid in Champions League, they’ll need to make sure to not come into the match flat. Timo Werner has been in better form as of late, being involved in four goals over his last two starts on the left wing where he has spelled Christian Pulisic. Pulisic has struggled since returning from international duty but Werner, Kai Havertz, and Mason Mount have formed quite the attack together. It will be hard for Palace to stop those three, provided they have energy left in their legs.
Crystal Palace: Without Gallagher, it’s fair to expect Palace to play a more defensive match in this one. Their central pairing of Joachim Andersen and Marc Guehi has been a formidable one and will make things thought for Chelsea while Wilfred Zaha will need to take his chances well on the other end as they’ll be hard to come by.
Prediction
Chelsea will see things out but don’t expect Crystal Palace to go down easily. Pick: Chelsea 2, Crystal Palace 1